Our tour guide warned us that the keas will steal your food…. my friend didn’t realize keas knew cake was carried in brown bags. It even hid under the car to eat it!
Category: Photography
Christchurch
I actually flew into Christchurch from Australia, my tour started the next morning as we hopped on the bus and started for Lake Tekapo (which is where I started my NZ blog posts), but I officially spent my first afternoon in NZ in the beautiful city of Christchurch. Upon arrival, I immediately felt at home. New Zealand’s culture is so friendly and similar to Canadian culture, it was great to talk with the kiwis and feel like I belonged there.
I had a nice chat with the cab driver about life in NZ and the earthquake aftershocks on the way to my hotel and then went exploring in Cathedral Square. I was fortunate enough to see the Cathedral in its entirety before the earthquake hit just after my departure. The town was still recovering from the earthquake that caused so much damage in Sept 2010, it’s sad to look back and know now that they had no idea what was coming to them in just a few months.
The bike sign made me laugh, I love info graphics. The type on this bar and the gallery were also really cool.
It was really weird to see Christmas stuff everywhere. It was so warm – the start of their summer, and knowing that it was winter at home, seeing Christmas stuff here was pretty out of place for me!
Night life in Christchurch was pretty cool too – there was this one alleyway in particular that had couches and outdoor fireplaces and Christmas lights everywhere.
Milford Sound
The scenery was the most spectacular as we drove farther and farther south to Milford Sound. We were headed for an overnight cruise on a fishing boat. On the way we saw the chasm and filled our water bottles with glacier water from a stream, and watched keas destroy cars while we waited for our turn in Homer Pass.
Keas are (the world’s only) alpine parrots that are extremely intelligent (about the same as an average human toddler apparently). They know how to pull the weather stripping from the windshield of cars, they will fly at you and steal your food. We were told they herd sheep off cliffs to kill them. The keas would sit on top the buses and rip off whatever they could from the top. We watched several vans speed up and then come to a screeching halt trying to dislodge the hitchhikers.
We watched small waterfalls travel down the cliffs and finally it was our turn to go through Homer Pass (the tunnel drilled through the base of a mountain).
We reached the boat, put our small bags in the tiny accommodations and were greeted by the crew with fresh mushroom soup. It was pretty cold and rainy so it was veray nice. We were able to go kayaking and on speed boat tours of the area to learn about the environment. A seal joined our speedboat tour, jumping around us in the water and checking us out!
It rained overnight (which it does 355 days a year there) which made the waterfalls even more impressive. We even got to see the rare yellow crested fiordland penguins! I tried to get some photos but they’re quick little things!
Lake Ohau
(pronounced “oh-how”)
The view from our room was stunning, as I’d end up finding through much of my trip. We were in a lodge that was on this mountain in the middle of nowhere with a beautiful view of Lake Ohau.
Lake Tekapo
The southern alps are pretty incredible to travel through, from when you first see them in the distance, to driving through them (after a while though, you really do wish for a straight road of any distance).
I couldn’t stop saying “wow” when I first saw this lake. Tekapo is the bluest lake I’ve ever seen. The entire area was covered in purple and pink flowers, the sun was shining and it couldn’t have been prettier.
I also loved this live edge bench that was right in front of the lake, what a view.
Oh and there was also a family of baby bunnies playing in the sun – yeah, that’s right, bunnies. Gorgeous scenery + cute overload = brain ‘splody.
New Zealand
Aotearoa – the land of the long white cloud, and a place I’ve wanted to go for years. I first saw New Zealand’s incredible landscape the same way as so many others, through movies. Lord of the Rings, Narnia etc. It seemed too good to be true, but it’s just as spectacular as it looks on screen.
Sydney
I really only spent half a day in Sydney but it was nice to get some photos in front of the bridge and opera house. My tour ended here and the next day I flew off to start a new adventure in New Zealand!
Dolphin Cruise in Port Stephens
I’d been looking forward to the dolphin cruise a lot. We went out in a big boat and found a pod almost immediately. The dolphins put on a show, jumping in front of the boat, riding the surf and playing around before heading off to find entertainment elsewhere. It was a beautiful day and so neat to see wild dolphins are as playful and friendly as their reputation.
Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary
I had such a great time at this place. I got to hang out with kangaroos and feed them, I got to hold a koala and see the vast variety of Australian birds and animals. My friend and I started hiking through the huge sanctuary and of course it started to rain. We’d just gotten a nice day, (it had been raining for a few days) and we took shelter in a gazebo and waited it out for a few minutes for the worst of it to pass before deciding we’d just brave the rain and go for it. The skies cleared and it turned into a beautiful day. We were very lucky to have missed all the flooding Queensland.
Getting to hold a koala was really neat. The one I held was warm and soft. The staff go into the enclosure, poke a koala and if it wakes up enough they pull it off the tree and hand it to you for the photo. It’s pretty funny. You’ll notice they’ve got arm protectors like you’d have for a falcon… yet we’re all in t-shirts! No one got scratched, apparently koalas are high all the time from eucalyptus. They get high and fall asleep for 23 hours a day. Rough life eh?
Finally got to see a dingo at the sanctuary, not quite the same as seeing one in the wild, but cool to see anyway!
The kangaroos were in an enclosed area with food in containers for you to grab and feed them. They were all very friendly and knew that you had food in your hands and would come to you for it. We posed for several photos and it was a really neat experience to be so close to them!
Surf Camp
Surf Camp was amazing. Probably in my top 3 highlights for my five week trip to Aus and NZ.
The atmosphere was like summer camp but for grown ups… despite the fact that we stayed in shipping containers… no, really. Metal shipping containers. It was great food (taco salad and apple crisp!) and laid back people. Plus, we got to learn how to surf… but – I’m probably one of the least athletic people you’ll ever meet. I was always picked last in gym class and never excelled at any type of sport. I was completely mentally prepared to suck at surfing. I thought to myself, “don’t get upset if you can’t stand up, you’ve only got a 2 hour lesson including learning how to do it on the sand. Don’t get your hopes up.”
Got my wetsuit, got my board, did the lesson with my group on the sand, and set out to the water with the rest of my tour-mates. I managed to figure out which waves weren’t worth going for pretty quickly and with the help of one of the instructors – who told me NOT to go to my knees first, to just jump up to standing right away – I managed to stand up and ride the waves a bunch of times! I got one wave so well it took me all the way back to shore. The instructor said “Wow Mate, you really ripped that one!” which is the best sports-related compliment I could (and probably will ever) receive.
Pictures courtesy of Mojo Surf Camp photographers:
